Happy new year! We arrived back from our big Christmas trip yesterday, tired and dirty but happy. Our 10-day trip began on Dec 21 when the girls and I headed north on our 3-day drive to Brisbane. The girls are not known for their ability to entertain themselves much further than the harbour bridge so I quickly discovered that the in-car DVD player was the best purchase I had ever made in my life. Aside from stops for food and watering, they were good as gold for the whole trip, laughing out loud at whatever they were watching but on the whole eerily quiet. I frequently forgot they were in the car with me and drove in silence. It was bliss.
Our first stop was an hour north of Sydney at the Australian Reptile Park. We saw crocs, wallabies and kangaroos, koalas and this over-sized spider - quite scary.
Onwards then for our first stop over at Eco Point villas on the shores of Bombah Point in Myall Lakes National Park. Our cabin was lovely and only a few minute's walk from the beautiful lake, stained with tea tree oil making the water dark brown but leaving our skin soft and smooth. It was baking hot so we spent most of the afternoon swimming in the pool and lake before dinner. What amazed me on the roads was how much better they were than the last time I did this drive (when Liz and Mike were here on honeymoon). The majority of the single lane highway between Sydney and Brisbane has finally been replaced with good dual carriageways and freeways.
The next day we drove north 5 hours (longer than expected due to an overturned lorry on the highway which brought traffic to a total standstill for about 30 minutes) to Coffs Harbour. Here we checked into a lovely resort with a lagoon, golf course and a huge pool. While the girls swam and played I was able to actually lie on a sun lounger and leave them to it. We're there, Rob, we're finally there!! After dinner by the lagoon, the girls lay down on the bed and were unconscious by 7pm, leaving me in front of the telly with a glass of wine. The next morning we headed into Coffs to the Pet Porpoise Pool. Here we were all kissed by a dolphin and a seal and watched the great dolphin show with plenty of splashing, perfect for another scorcher.
On the third day we drove north again, via Byron Bay, to Ballina where we stayed in a gorgeous brand new hotel right on the river. We ate lunch and dinner by the water watching water skiers, kayakers and fishing trawlers pass by.
We arrived at Craig and Lynda's house in Brisbane on Christmas Eve for a reunion with Rob. It was also a reunion of Rob's whole family - his Dad and Margaret and Catherine came from NZ, and Helen, George, William and Libby jetted in from a snowy UK. It was unbelievably hot and humid and fairly unbearable most of the time, hence the hours spent in the pool. The girls confidence level went up another 5 notches and Flo is swimming several metres on her own without any floats.
On Christmas morning we awoke to a generous present deposit by Santa before an outdoor lunch, street cricket game and more swimming. I was particularly thrilled with a new Canon EOS digital camera that became my holiday play thing and produced most of the pictures you see here. On Boxing Day we watched the start of the Sydney To Hobart yacht race, keen to spot St Jude, the yacht our mate Jules was on board. The rest of the day was devoted to packing up ready for our camping trip and on Dec 27 we all set off in a 3-car convoy, 3 hours' south to Iluka, a tiny fishing village on the river north of Yamba. Although it was still warm, the rotten wet weather that ruined Christmas for Sydneysiders down south, was on its way to us. Hot sunny, muggy days ended each night with torrential downpours. Great fun when you're all nice and warm and dry in your tent, but not much fun the next day when everything is wet and muddy.
On camping day 2 we even discussed packing up two days early and starting our drive south, but as it was still warm we decided to give it another day. I'm so glad we did as it was the best day of the trip. We started off on an amazing surf beach near Yamba where the kids played for hours in the sand, there was a game of beach cricket and much jumping in the surf. A short drive took us to an amazing flooded quarry with high rocks for jumping off into very deep tepid water.
We packed up our camping gear on Dec 30, leaving the rest of the family to it, in even more rain, and drove south to Port Macquarie for the night before finally arriving at the holiday house of our friends Susie and Damien at Nelson Bay for New Year's Eve. It was a relief to be able to dry off, shower and wash a load of damp, muddy clothes. Nine adults and 5 kids sat down to a fantastic dinner before watching the Sydney 9pm fireworks on tv. Not one of us made it to midnight.
We got home on New Year's Day to find a further stash of gifts left by Santa and while the girls played with their toys, Rob and I set about the seemingly never-ending task of unpacking, chucking out old toys and clothes to make room for new, and trying to get everything back to normal. Today was hot and unbearably humid again, but a hugely refreshing change has just swept through bringing an incredibly welcome cooling downpour. After running around shutting windows and doors the girls and I danced around on the lawn in the rain. We are all wet but cool. Have a great 2010 everyone. I wonder what lies ahead.
We have just walked in the door (me hobbling actually due to suspect broken toe - more on that later) after a totally wonderful 4 nights bush camping at Coolendel, a nature reserve on the Shoalhaven river, about 3 hours south from Sydney and then inland about 30 km. Campground huge and uncrowded, despite it being the Australia Day holiday weekend, with great amenities and throbbing with peacocks, wombats, wallabies and goannas (huge lizards). 
River amazing, with jumping rocks (check out the shots of Scarlett, Rob, and Jules and Ben jumping), and cool, slow-flowing water. We were invited by our top mates Jules and Lenka and our group was made up of 6 families - 12 adults and 13 children aged between 2 and 10. We spent most days cooling off in the river, one cooler day bush walking through absurdly difficult terrain with 2 year old and in flip flops ( have vowed to do it in stilettos next time), 3rd day on inflatables floating for around 2 hours along a couple of miles of the river and through 2 sets of rapids. My inflatable bed had a slow and then a fast puncture that resulted in Scarlett and I repeatedly sinking and me jamming my foot violently against rocks in first set of rapids. Was laughing much too much to notice at the time and only spotted large swelling and accompanying pain when I left the river at the end. Luckily 3 of the mums camping with us are nurses and all leapt into action administering ice packs, anti-inflammatories and multiple glasses of sav blanc. 
We enjoyed lots of games of rounders, toasting of marshmallows around fire, chasing and then running from goannas and a great deal of good food and wine. With the kids in bed, the grown ups played charades and that game with a cereal box where you have to bend down lower and lower with each round to pick it up with your teeth. Rob did a champion job of putting up our tent, providing clever venting options at both ends so we were cool and comfortable at night. The girls had a ball with so many other playmates and behaved like the sweethearts they really can be, and Rob and I met some lovely new people. I ache all over from being bashed by rapids, playing rounders for the first time in 30 years and the cereal game bending and enjoyed soaking in a large bath filled mostly with Dettol when we got home. I feel so relaxed and as if we have been away for weeks. I CANNOT wait to camp there again and hope to rope in a few other families for the next trip in March. Best of all, as Coolendel seems to operate in its own micro-climate, we avoided the sweltering 40+ degrees weather in Sydney.
